Chipotle's CEOs are under fire for their insanely high pay

Steve Ells and Monty Moran.
Jason Kempen for Getty Images/Craig F. Walker for the Denver Post
Chipotle's CEOs are under fire for their insanely high compensation packages.

Steve Ells and Monty Moran made $28.9 million and $28.2 million respectively last year, according to company filings.

The amounts represent a 15% pay increase for each executive from the previous year.

Ells also raked in another $41.6 million in 2014 by exercising previously awarded stock options.

For comparison, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein made about $23 million in 2013.

Chipotle has delivered strong returns in recent years, with the stock increasing nearly 29% in 2014.

But shareholders have been putting pressure on Chipotle to reduce its generous compensation plan for Ells and Moran. Their pay packages in 2013, which totaled more than $67 million in 2013, were 10 times the median pay for CEOs at peer companies, the Denver Post reports, citing CtW Investment Group.

There are a number of pay proposals being voted on at at the company's annual meeting in Denver this week, including one that would require shareholders to sign off on equity compensation before awards are granted by directors, USA Today reports.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer is among the critics of Chipotle's executive pay plan.

"The movement for greater accountability in corporate America has enormous momentum as we head into these annual meetings," Stringer said in a statement to the Denver Post. "For the next two weeks, Denver will be a focal point in the fight to elect directors who can improve diversity, manage climate risk and rein in excessive CEO pay."

Chipotle pays workers an average of $8.57 an hour, according to Glassdoor, a wage higher than those of Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King.